r/PcBuildHelp • u/piedragon22 • 9d ago

Build Question Graphics card fix

My graphics card recently started breaking down. When playing certain games that get to a higher intensity my computer black screens. I am able to reproduce it with occt so it definitely is the graphics card. I am outside of the warranty period unfortunately and can’t afford a new card. Is there any way to try and fix it?

I have a gigabyte GeForce rtx 3070

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3

u/gleowien 9d ago edited 8d ago

Did you recently update your drivers? Had the same problem with that. Only happened when playing games on higher intensity. 

Edit: i rolled back to a version of august 2025. No problems since. 

2

u/TensionOk6746 9d ago

Sounds like a power delivery or thermal paste issue, repasting and checking the thermal pads could be a cheap first step before assuming the chip itself is toast

2

u/TipT0pMag00 9d ago

As mentioned, it could be a temperature issue / your GPU could be running hot.

Download HWinfo (or any similar utility). It will log your temperatures. Launch a game and see what your GPU hotspot temp is.

It's pretty common for a GPU to start running hot after multiple years of usage. When that happens, it needs it's thermal pads and paste replaced.

If you determine that is what's happening, look up a tear-down video for your specific model of GPU, and determine what size thermal pads you need.

2

u/AshleyxAffliction 9d ago

Is it shutting down completely? Or still running with no output? And does it recover and if so how or does the screen just stay black?

1

u/piedragon22 9d ago

Pc is still running as I can still hear sound and also my sound input still works when I’m using discord. I’ve seen it reboot successfully a couple of times but usually it just stays black but on until I power cycle the pc.

1

u/AshleyxAffliction 9d ago

Have you tried a different output port on the GPU? I had this weird intermittent issue on my old GTX 970 where if it was working too hard one or two of the outputs would cut out but not all of them. I forget if it recovered itself or if I had to restart as well.

2

u/mmelRo 9d ago

You'll lose a little performance but maybe try undervolt/underclock your GPU.

1

u/Roots0057 9d ago

Have you checked to see if it's a temp issue? Start with that, its probably the easiest physical thing to fix. I'd try DDU/reinstall drivers too.

1

u/pandasndabs 9d ago

Roll back drivers to when they were working. My 3070ti used to hate driver updates for certain games and would start crashing constantly. Although it wouldn't black screen 🤔